Aesthetics of Yoruba Recreational Dances as Exemplified in the Oge Dance

Among the Yoruba-speaking people of Nigeria recreational dances are a popular art form usually performed at purely social gatherings such as weddings, funerals (of elderly people), or child-naming ceremonies. They are distinct from the more symbolic dances which may accompany such social events, or even from the more formally structured and often public events such as historical festivals, initiation rites, and ancestral remembrance ceremonies. The recreational dances, which are performed mainly for relaxation and entertainment, are also opportunities to express and communicate emotions arising from the occasion being observed. Social ceremonies in Yoruba society are simply inconceivable without recreational dances. Social festivities are of course not the only occasions for these dances; they are also performed on non-specific occasions for purely aesthetic fulfillment or as an expression of general wellbeing. At the end of a day's work, for example, friends or relatives get together to relax, or as they say, "mufddji"-'catch relaxation.' At suchfddji evenings dance performances feature prominently alongside story-telling and riddle contests, games, poetry chants, or merely sharing anecdotes. Occasionally, too, a popular dance form may find performance space at the end of a successful symbolic ceremony, when the inclusion of a different form, both thematically and conceptually, is no longer a distraction from the desired goals of the ceremony. At such times recreational dances produce a cathartic effect following the tension of the event's significant symbolism. The recreational dances of the Yoruba can be broadly divided into two categories: 1) dljo--social leisure dances, and 2) ijoitdge-theatre entertainment dances. The division is rather fluid, for it is permissible for ijo-itdge to be performed as dlujo and vice versa, although the former situation is more frequent. Essentially distinguishing dlujo dances from ijo-itdge are basic structure and performance techniques. While ijo-itdge are formally created and structured for an audience interested in being entertained, a situation which enforces a certain level of professionalism, alujo have no special commitment to a specific audience: they are more for the personal enjoyment of the performers, who are either social club members or just creative individuals.